


Seafoam

by DoubleMastectomy



Series: Tumblr short fic prompts (February 2021) [2]
Category: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: California (Comics)
Genre: Family Fluff, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Hair Dyeing, Pre-Canon, this is very light hearted and chill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:48:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29323473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoubleMastectomy/pseuds/DoubleMastectomy
Summary: Vamos has a hair dyeing emergency and Volume helps out.For the prompt "The color green."
Relationships: Vamos & Volume (Fabulous Killjoys)
Series: Tumblr short fic prompts (February 2021) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2150100
Comments: 11
Kudos: 8





	Seafoam

**Author's Note:**

  * For [costumejail](https://archiveofourown.org/users/costumejail/gifts).



> In addition to the prompt, this was also inspired by the fact that while Vaya's guns match xeir blue hair exactly, Vamos' gun is green (at least for a few panels).

“Fuck!” Vamos shouted from the other side of the bathroom door. They weren’t angry but frustrated, and shrill where emotion cracked through.

Volume knocked on the door. “Vams?” he asked, “Everything alright?”

“No! Everything’s _not_ alright and I'm gonna _die_. Get in here.” The door opened suddenly just enough for Vamos to drag Volume into the bathroom before slamming it again. Their hand was tangled in their shaggy faux hawk and a despondent look was on their face. Although they wore their usual daytime outfit, a towel was pinned over their shoulders. The towel, along with their hands, their neck and the edges of their face, were all stained a neon blue, albeit slightly faded from a wash. Their hair, still damp and coagulated into wavy strands, was a deep sea green.

Vamos, perhaps melodramatically, draped their arms over the sink (also stained blue) and fell to their knees. “This is a disaster.” They lamented as Volume rubbed a comforting hand on their shoulder, “Vaya’s color came out perfect, I don’t know where I went wrong.”

Volume smiled sadly. “You put blue dye on yellow hair… I _did_ tell you to leave the bleach on for just a little longer -”

Vamos looked up at him with the saddest puppy dog eyes he’d ever seen.

“Come on, get up. We can try again.”

Vamos let him pull them back to their feet. They looked more genuinely upset now, real tears tempting their wet eyes. “Nope,” they explained, “Vaya used the last of it for xeirs.” They handed Volume a well used box of Dr. Phizzles’s Raspberry Blue off the sink top. He turned it over, slipping the bottle into his palm, and true to Vamos’ word it was completely hollow. “We were supposed to _match_. But I think I’m empty on bleach too and Vinyl said if I borrowed any more of his carbons he’d tell Val.” They turned to their reflection holding a clump of bangs over their forehead, further assessing the damage. "I could motor to Tommy's and back before midnight if I left now, but I don't know if he'd accept a trade."

Volume stepped behind them. Softly he pointed out, “It’s not the end of the end of the world.” He smoothed out the longer hair over Vamos’ crown, gently combing his fingers through it one hand at a time and brushing it forward. “You’ve been matching Vaya your whole life haven't you? Don’t you think a change might be fun?” Vamos looked unsure. “I’ll style it for you,” Volume offered.

Vamos sighed, relaxing somewhat. “Okay. As long as it doesn’t look rusty. I _can't_ let anyone think I'm a debut.”

“It'll look good, I promise.” He directed them to sit on the lid of the toilet, facing the wall. “D’you know if Lunacy still has that dryer?”

“Dunno.” They shrugged and lazily pointed to the cabinet under the sink. “If she has it, she’s keeping it in there.”

Volume checked and sure enough in the back, behind more boxes of Dr. Phizzles’s (all claimed by the other Nest joys) and adjacent to a Mousekat bag full of trash and who-knows-what-else, there was a small black hair dryer tucked away. He took it out and untangled the chord from around its base. Then, with a little bit of finagling, he managed to get the unreliable bathroom outlet to light the plug’s "on” bulb.

He kept the power low at first, just a low warm hum as he pivoted the dryer back and forth around that back of Vamos’ head. They sat up straight and still for him, arms crossed in front of themself, directing their anxious energy into a bouncing knee and nothing else. As their hair lightened, Volume turned up the dryer notch by notch. Soon it was gusting wind over a dry and fluffy mop.

Volume clicked it off. "Already looking better. Look how pretty the color is dry!"

They ran a hand through it, pulling down their bangs and contemplating the progress. "Guess so. Don't you have a polish this color?"

"Used to," he laughed, " 'Til Paves lifted it from me. I know where to get more though, if you wanted to borrow."

Vamos' eyes lit up, "Can I? I've been needing something new on my nails for generations and the loot our last clap got us was practically _chilly_."

"Yeah of course, floral eyes. But first -" He unlatched the med cabinet and produced a squeeze bottle from it. He poured just a touch of gel on his fingers and combed through their fringe again. "This is a weak product - expired before the Helium - so it'll add texture and shine but keep everything else soft, and..." He wiped his hands on his jeans and unpinned something from his jacket. "This'll be shiny." He snapped a faux-rhinestone clip into their hair.

It sat comfortably above their forehead and to the right. When Vamos hopped up to look in the mirror again they saw that the stones in it formed the shape of a flower. And around it: they saw how their hair was an almost pastel green hue now. It shimmered in the light; some shadows blue like they'd originally intended, the highlights minty. It was delicate and beautiful and Vamos spun and hugged Volume with their whole arms.

"Thanks," they said, "I owe you."

"You owe me nothing, Vams. Now do you wanna go see what Vaya thinks or what?"

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please consider leaving kudos/comments if you enjoyed it, those are what keep me going!


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